RIVER FALLS, Wis. (uwrfsports.com) - UW-River Falls only scored one point less than UW-Oshkosh in their match on Friday night at Page Arena, but they came up short and fell to the Titans in four sets (27-25, 24-26, 26-24, 25-22). UWRF had more digs than UW-Oshkosh, including a career-high 44 digs for Hannah Robb.

The Falcons began the match on a 6-1 run, highlighted by two kills from Savannah Brauer. The Titans battled back to make it 10-9 after two kills from Carly Lemke, and they went on a 4-0 run to make it 14-13 in the middle of the set. UWRF bounced back with a Robb service ace and a block from Brauer to spark a 5-0 run to make it 18-14 in favor of the Falcons. The teams would trade points until a service error from Dakotah Poitra gave the Titans a set point at 24-23. Hannah Striggow saved the first set with a kill on the next play, and Karli Nielsen did the same only two points later. However, a Taylor Allen kill and a Nielsen error gave the Titans the first set at 27-25. 

Both teams played a sloppy second set and had negative attacking percentages. UWRF took advantage by recording six more kills than the Titans and went ahead 9-4 after two Striggow kills and an ace from Mallory Griffin. They stretched the lead to 13-6, but UW-Oshkosh responded with an 8-1 run to make it 14-14. A 6-2 run from the Falcons was countered by a 4-0 run from the Titans, and soon the score was knotted up at 24. A kill from Poitra and an attack error from Allen allowed the Falcons to make the match even after two sets. 

UWRF had to try to play catch up for the majority of the third set, but they eventually took a late lead after a 6-1 run to play a set point at 24-22. Griffin committed a service error the next point, and three UW-Oshkosh kills gave the Titans the momentum-swinging third set. The Falcons had an impressive 19 kills in the set, but they weren't able to overcome UW-Oshkosh's .240 hitting percentage. The Titans also took the fourth set after trailing the Falcons by as much as 14-9. Two blocks from UW-Oshkosh spurred a 5-0 run, and a later 8-2 run gave the Titans a sizable lead that even five fourth-set kills from Striggow couldn't slow down. Three errors from the Titans made it close at 23-22, but kills from Kendall Enyart and Allen closed out the game and gave UW-Oshkosh their first WIAC win of the season. 

Striggow and Brauer led the way with 16 and 15 kills, and Hailey Huseth had a game-high 26 assists. Allen led with six blocks for the Titans. UWRF falls to 12-14 and 0-5 in the WIAC with the loss. They will travel to St. Paul on Saturday to play Northwestern at 11 a.m. and St. Mary's at 1 p.m.